


Five Days of Christmas and One Happy New Year

by EmmaDeMarais



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:28:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21839716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmaDeMarais/pseuds/EmmaDeMarais
Summary: Five Christmas holidays in the life of Malcolm Bright.
Relationships: Eve Blanchard/Malcolm Bright, Gil Arroyo/Jackie Arroyo, JT Tarmel/Tally Tarmel, Jessica Whitly/Martin Whitly
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Five Days of Christmas and One Happy New Year

**Author's Note:**

  * For [badritual](https://archiveofourown.org/users/badritual/gifts).



Christmas 1997

"Oh, Ainsley dear... Let me help you with that..." 

Jessica lifted her tiny daughter into her lap and loosened the gift wrap on the present she was trying to open so the little girl could finish the job herself.

"A tea set for my dolls! It's so pretty!"

Jessica lowered her voice in an aside to her husband, sitting nearby watching Malcolm reading the instructions on how to pick a passcode for his new savings bank safe.

"You couldn't have used a little less tape?"

"I'm sorry, Jess," Martin apologized. "I got a bit overzealous trying to make them look perfect for you." 

Jessica looked under the tree where there were still quite a few presents left to be unwrapped. The shine of the uncreased metallic papers, the extravagant bows upon the carefully stacked boxes and the exquisitely applied ribbon - never too much nor too little... Every gift wrapped with near surgical precision.

"I have to admit, they do look lovely. I hope we took enough photos before the children woke up and started turning the parlour into a sea of holiday detritus."

"I got it!" Malcolm suddenly exclaimed. He pushed four buttons on the tiny safe and the little metal door opened.

"You're so smart, dear," Jessica told him.

"That's my boy!" Martin clapped him on the shoulder. "Never met a challenge you couldn't puzzle out. Now use that to save your allowance and you can buy yourself something with your own money! That's quite an accomplishment."

Malcolm beamed with pride at his father's words. "Dad, are we really going to take this new sleeping bag camping next year?"

"Of course! My little man in the double digits? That's the best time of life to camp! Hey! Save up your money and maybe you can buy a nice hunting knife of your very own!"

Malcolm's eyes widened with delight as he let out a little gasp of excitement.

"This is the best Christmas ever! And next year's going to be the best year ever!"

"Of course it is," Jessica assured him. "It's like that every year for us Whitlys."

*

Christmas 2001

"Malcolm! Here! Have another piece of pie! You're so skinny!"

A big piece of pie appeared on Malcolm's carefully cleared plate and he smiled politely at his hostess, minding his best manners as he'd been taught.

"Thank you, Mrs. Arroyo."

"It's Jackie, honey! How many times do I have to tell you? Hey! Ignacio! Don't you throw stuff at your little cousin! And Eladio! I told you to move that bowl of candy before you knock it over!" She headed over to rescue the precariously placed candy dish as Malcolm sat in his chair, shrinking into it as if he could become invisible.

"It's a bit much, all this?" Gil appeared beside him, a much welcome familiar face in a sea of strangers. "Come with me," he said, tugging on his sleeve. "And bring your pie." Gil picked up Malcolm's apple cider cup and his own drink and cocked his head toward the hallway. They walked down it into the now abandoned kitchen and sat down in the little breakfast nook together. "I love my wife, but Jackie's family is huge! Whenever we host Christmas at our house I want to hide too! I bet you've never seen that many family members in one place before."

"I've never seen a family that big ever," Malcolm confided. "We had Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Milton's one year when Ainsley was little. There were a lot of people there, but my mom said they were just the staff and not to talk to them." He fell silent for a moment, a trace of sadness crossing his expressive face. "We never went back. Mom told us that they died, but I saw Grandpa on TV after..." He paused a few seconds, but they both knew that Gil was the one person who didn't need him to say it aloud. Gil had been there when they took Malcolm's father away and been there for him ever since. "So I guess he just didn't want to see us anymore."

Gil squeezed Malcolm's shoulder. "You listen to me, kid. No matter what happens with your family, you've got a place right here in mine. Jackie says so too and one thing you'll learn when you grow up is that you don't argue with a girl from the Bronx." They shared a conspiratorial chuckle, able to hear Jackie's voice across the house wrangling her extended family's children. "So Christmas? You're here, every year." For a moment he just gazed at Malcolm, connected by the affection they felt for each other. "So..." Gil pulled something from his pocket. "You're going to have to get used to wearing this if you're part of this family!" He smushed a knitted beanie down over Malcolm's head, covering up his eyes so he laughed and pulled it up and off to look at it: a Yankees hat.

"I love it!" he exclaimed, putting it right back on and feeling wonderfully every inch the normal New York City boy in that moment.

"Merry Christmas, City Boy!"

*

Christmas 2020

"Somebody... grab the... door... Yeah, thanks..."

"Brr! Who let the whole goddamn winter into my house?" Gil appeared from the kitchen just in time to see Dani and JT helping Malcolm wrangle quite a large box into his living room, the amount of snow on top of both box and profiler a testament as to how slowly he must have had to walk from a cab at the curb to get that heavy package indoors.

"Not to worry!" Malcolm huffed out with a little grunt as they jointly managed to lower the box to the floor. "I left plenty of snow out there for the rest of New York."

"Hey!" Tally emerged from the bathroom and lit up at the sight of Malcolm. "The party hasn't started until the guy who can afford all the good liquor shows up!"

"That's my line," JT grumbled, but kissed his wife on the temple in a good-natured sign of surrender. "But you can have it tonight."

"And a really well reviewed artisan German pilsner, if that's your desire this evening." Malcolm pulled out a bottle and then a second. "Or I've got a lovely Riesling... It's a really good year..."

Tally had reached for the Pilsner, but then immediately handed it to JT, taking the Riesling for herself.

"Ooh! Thank you, Santa Bright!" she said, beaming, clearly already a bit tipsy.

"I've brought general libations for the evening's festivities, but I also brought some gift bottles." Malcolm pulled a heavy squarish glass bottle out and displayed it for Gil to approve. "12 year old Bourbon?"

"Come to papa!" Gil reached out and took the bottle then pulled Malcolm into a paternal half hug. "Glad you could make it, kid."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he replied, his whole demeanor relaxed and jovial. "It's the team! Got to celebrate with the team!"

He offered a gift box with a sake set in it to Edrisa, which Dani took an interest in as well. "Hey, if you need any help breaking that in..." she ventured.

"Yes! But we need to warm it up in the kitchen first. Oh!" She made herself stop and turn to Malcolm first. "Thank you! It's perfect." She handed him a tiny wrapped gift and motioned for him to put it in his pocket. "For later," she mouthed then winked before disappearing with Dani into the kitchen.

Taking a moment to sit, Malcolm offered his mentor a contented smile as he came to sit beside him.

"You know, it's not filled with Jackie's family anymore," Malcolm mused, "But I'm glad to see you're filling it with yours."

"Ours," Gil corrected. "They're our family now."

*

Christmas 2023

"The Gutierrez family moved in yesterday."

Malcolm looked up from his desk and blinked at Eve. "Gutierrez... Is that the family where the father was killed in a drive by in front of their building?"

"Yes, his widow and their three little girls moved out of that horrible tenement and into one of the Center's family apartments. You know, we're going to need another child psychologist with all the kids these crime victim families are bringing."

He put aside his papers, rose and pulled his wife in for a gentle kiss. "Sorry I couldn't clone mine. Gabrielle was a life saver."

"So why didn't we name the center after her again?" Eve asked, settling into his arms.

"The Le Deux Center? I think it's because we wanted people to be able to spell it!" Malcolm chuckled. "I still can't believe my mother lost the battle to call it the Blanchard Center."

"Well, I had to give up on calling it the Milton Center,"she huffed.

"At least we got Gil to agree to let us use Arroyo..."

"...Only if we used it in Jackie's memory, not his... Yeah..." She brushed a graying strand away from his face, a gesture that had become second nature to them both. "You really were like a son to him. I just wish I'd met Jackie."

"She would have liked you," Malcolm assured her. "I have it on good authority: Gil's."

Eve's eyes crinkled up in a true smile, a display of how pleased she was at Gil's praise. "Oh, speaking of needing a new pediatric specialist, we're going to need another medical professional soon."

Malcolm cocked his head, questioning.

"A pediatrician. For us." Eve took Malcolm's hand and put it on her belly. "For us," she repeated.

"You're pregnant?" Malcolm gasped. "But I thought..."

"Well, sometimes the fertility experts are just wrong," she offered with a shrug. "And sometimes things just take as long as they need to take for no reason at all."

"Yes!" Malcolm grabbed her up and twirled her around gleefully before setting her back down carefully and kissing her deeply, keeping her in his arms as they shared their breath and their future in preparation for what was to come. "I'm going to be a father..." he marveled.

"Not just a father," Eve assured him. "The best dad this kid could ever hope for. Merry Christmas."

"Best present ever!" he murmured, hand reverently on her stomach. "Well, I've got a lot of bad karma to erase first," Malcolm nodded diligently. "So, I'll get right on that. I've got only nine months or so..."

*

Christmas 2039

Malcolm watched the streets of Manhattan go by in a blur, their familiarity lacking despite him knowing the route to the family home by heart. He found himself missing Adolpho's driving; he'd been the best of all of his mother's drivers.

Lost in a revery, he almost failed to respond when Jackson stopped the car and opened the door for him to exit the towncar.

"Thanks, Jackson," he mumbled before making his way up the impeccably groomed snowy front steps.

No one was downstairs to greet him; there would be no tree and no decorations this year.

He took the stairs two at a time at first then, feeling his age, slowed and let his body creak with complaint.

Ainsley met him on the landing as she stepped away from the double doors to their mother's suite.

"Is she..."

Ainsley just shook her head. "She's not going to get any better, Malcolm. The hospice doctor told us..."

"I know, " Malcolm brushed away her words with a gesture. "I just wanted to see her."

"She's awake enough for a visit," Ainsley stepped away to allow Malcolm access to the doors. "Just don't let her bring up Dad. It gets her all riled up and when she gets coughing it's hard for her to stop."

"He's been dead four, wait has it been five years now?" Martin shook his head at his jumbled memory. "I say let him stay dead."

Ainsley huffed a little. "With the Arthur Holdell case, New York has apparently forgotten The Surgeon in favor of a more recent and heinous serial killer. As if two dozen deaths isn't enough compared to 37." As Malcolm started in, Ainsley laid a hand on his arm. "I'll be downstairs if, you know, you want to talk after."

Malcolm paused long enough to embrace his sister, then brush a strand of her eternally blond hair - painstakingly dyed to match the color of her youth - from her tear-stained eye.

"I'll be down."

The room was preternaturally still, quiet, scented with a hint of fading roses and antiseptic.

Malcolm crossed the spacious room and sat on the edge of his mother's hospital style bed, taking her frail hand in his.

"Hello, Mother. How are you feeling this evening?"

"Malcolm...." Jessica's weak voice was barely a whisper, but she squeezed her son's hand as tightly as she could to show her pleasure at his arrival. "Is it Christmas yet?"

"Almost," he near lied. Christmas Eve was technically not Christmas yet and he had agreed with Ainsley not to depress their mother when she only had days or perhaps even just hours left.

Jessica smiled, weary eyes falling shut of their own accord.

"I'm so glad you're here," she managed, each word an effort. "I wanted to tell you... I needed to say... I'm so sorry for not protecting you..."

"No no no no no!" Malcolm rushed out. "We talked about this. No more apologies. I know you did the best you could with us in a horrific situation that no one should ever have to go through. If there's anything left to be said, it's from me. So from me to you, Mother, thank you. Thank you for never giving up on me. Thank you for saving me from myself. And thank you for being the support I needed to put the past behind me and move on to a new and healthy life. All that I have now, I have you to thank for it."

A single tear fell from Jessica's eye and dropped to the pillow.

"All I ever wanted was to be a good mother."

Her breathing grew shallow as Malcolm pressed a final kiss to her forehead.

"You did that, Mom. You were the best."

*

January 1, 2040

"...and Times Square goes wild as it does every year once the Ball drops, ushering in a new year filled with hope and happiness for all..."

Eve turned the sound down on the television and joined her husband on the balcony of their home, as he stood gazing out over the city.

"A new year... Hopefully a good one."

Malcolm drew her in close and held her as the sounds of epic revelry rose up from the streets of the city below.

"It's just us now," he murmured. "Mother's gone, my father's gone, Gabrielle, and even Gil and Jackie... They're all in the past."

"There's still our children plus Ainsley and her children and whichever husband of the week she's on now."

"Now now, "Malcolm admonished kindly. "We both got damaged growing up. It's just no one really figured out how it affected Ainsley and her relationships with men until, I guess maybe husband number two. To be fair, I like this new one: Joshua. He seems to treat her really well and his efforts to get her back into therapy, even after all this time, were probably spot on."

"So says the expert on crime victim psychology, Professor."

"Well, the university and my publisher like to say that about me," Malcolm joked, "so it must be true." He went back to staring out over the city. "It's just... This year will be different. No father to manipulate me, no mother to make me feel guilty, no mentor to bring up old memories..."

"Just a happy family of your own to enjoy." Eve pulled him in for a languid kiss. "Starting tonight. 365 days and nights of joyful living."

"Yes," Malcolm agreed. "Tonight, the slate is wiped clean. It's our turn now."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta!


End file.
